The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Common Academic Experiences No One Talks About: Repeated Rejection, Impostor Syndrome, and Burnout
Abstract
Academic life is full of learning, excitement, and discovery. However, academics also experience professional challenges at various points in their career, including repeated rejection, impostor syndrome, and burnout. These negative experiences are rarely talked about publicly, creating a sense of loneliness and isolation for people who presume they are the only ones affected by such setbacks. However, nearly everyone has these experiences at one time or another; therefore, talking about them should be a normal part of academic life. The goal of this article is to explore and destigmatize the common experiences of rejection, impostor syndrome, and burnout by sharing a collection of short personal stories from scholars at various stages of their careers with various types of academic positions. Josh Ackerman, Kate Sweeny, and Ludwin Molina discuss how they have dealt with repeated rejection. Linda Tropp, Nick Rule, and Brooke Vick share experiences with impostor syndrome. Finally, Bertram Gawronski, Lisa Jaremka, Molly Metz, and Will Ryan discuss how they have experienced burnout.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“ECRs cite a range of structural and individual stressors, such as short-term employment contracts and related job insecurity, high competition, perceived isolation, feeling like an impostor, lack of feedback and power abuse as contributors to poor mental health12–18.”
From Prevalence and severity of mental health problems in early-career researchers: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [12]
In the citing paper
“and in postdoctoral researchers (for example, short-term contracts, career uncertainty and pressure to publish or secure funding)12,19.”
From Prevalence and severity of mental health problems in early-career researchers: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [12]
Citations
Cites
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.55.1.68 · Cited by 54,599
A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students
Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1198364 · Cited by 1,992 · cited 1×
“For example, there is work on the efficacy of belongingness interventions in improving academic outcomes and well-being (Walton & Cohen, 2007, 2011).”
BackgroundD’Argembeau, A., & Van der Linden, M. (2004) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2004.07.007 · Cited by 792
Research works printed but not linked: 23
- Brown B., 2015, Rising strong: The reckoning. The rumble. The revolution
- 10.1037/a0038324 · DOI
- 10.1037/1089-2680.3.1.23 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1037/0022-3514.60.2.218 · DOI
- 10.1007/s10734-008-9184-7 · DOI
- 10.1037/0022-3514.75.3.617 · DOI · Paper page
- Hardin C. D., 1996, Handbook of motivation and cognition. Handbook of motivation and cognition, Vol. 3. The interpersonal context, 28
- 10.1111/1467-9280.00272 · DOI · Paper page
- Jeffers S., 2017, Feel the fear and do it anyway
- Kay K., 2014, The confidence code: The science and art of self-assurance–what women should know
- Lovitts B. E., 2001, Leaving the ivory tower: The causes and consequences of departure from doctoral study
- 10.1037/a0025135 · DOI
- 10.1037/0021-9010.83.1.55 · DOI
- Obama M., 2018, Becoming Michelle Obama
- 10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/j.jesp.2015.09.006 · DOI
- 10.1037/1099-9809.13.4.321 · DOI
- Soibel A., 2012, Individual Differences Research, 10, 193
- 10.1038/nj7322-467a · DOI
- 10.1002/per.497 · DOI
- 10.1242/jcs.033340 · DOI
- 10.1037/0022-3514.92.1.82 · DOI · Paper page
- Young N., 1970, On After the gold rush [record]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Brault, C., Thomas, I., Moro, M. R., & Benoit, L. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.803517 · Cited by 20
Dreisoerner, A., Goetz, V., Frohnmayer, D., Tran, U. S., Voracek, M., & Nater, U. M. (2026) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02505-5 · Cited by 2
Metadata
- Authors
- Jaremka, L. M., Ackerman, J. M., Gawronski, B., Rule, N. O., Sweeny, K., Tropp, L. R., Metz, M. A., Molina, L., Ryan, W. S., & Vick, S. B.
- Venue
- Perspectives on Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-04-21
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 519-543
- ISSN
- 1745-6916
- 1745-6924
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 3
- Language
- en
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
